Private group Australian Wheat Forecasters (AWF) has slightly trimmed its forecast of Australia's barley crop to 8.97 million tonnes, though it reported generally good growing conditions.

The new forecast is down from the 9.05 million tonne crop seen a month ago, but would still be Australia's second-biggest barley crop on record, after 10.38 million tonnes in 2003/04, ahead of the 8.28 million tonnes harvested in 2001/02.

Copyright Reuters, 2005